World News Quick Take

■ India
Husband returns as a woman
An man who left his wife and two young children two years ago shocked his family when he returned home as an eunuch, wearing garish red lipstick, the Asian Age newspaper said Thursday. After a fight with his wife, the jobless Nabiullah left his family in Hathipur town in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in the summer of 2003 to look for work, the paper reported. During his absence, he got himself castrated and became a eunuch, earning money by singing and dancing, a common form of employment among India's ostracized community of eunuchs. "I was always fond of singing and dancing, but felt suffocated in my body as a man," Nabiullah was quoted as saying.

■ India
`Devil's child' really a tumor
A girl was dragged to a witch doctor and ostracized for carrying the "devil's child." But it turned out to be a 15kg tumor not a foetus, it was reported yesterday. Chhabi Shabar, 17, was ostracized from her village in eastern India and taken to a witch doctor when her stomach started swelling up a few months ago, the Telegraph newspaper reported. Residents of Dhamaitikri village in West Bengal state declared the unmarried girl must be pregnant. Her poor farmer father took her to a local doctor who also concluded Chhabi was expecting because her abdomen kept growing and she suffered from nausea and breathing problems. Village elders took Chhabi to a witch doctor who proclaimed she was carrying the "devil's child", the report said.

■ Nepal
Ex-PM arrested for graft
The new anti-corruption agency has charged former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba with distributing state money to party workers while in office, the state-run news agency said yesterday. The Royal Commission for Corruption Control, created after King Gyanendra seized power in February, also said the detained leader must pay 3.8 million rupees (US$55,000) bail if he wants to be released, the National News Agency reported. Deuba has so far refused to pay bail. Deuba, who was arrested last month, has denied the graft accusations, called the commission illegal, and refused to cooperate with investigators. On Wednesday, the commission extended his detention by another week.

■ Malaysia
Shows of force to be stopped
Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to refrain from staging shows of force in the South Sulawesi Sea, where the neighbors are in dispute over maritime boundaries, Malaysia's deputy prime minister said yesterday. Najib Razak told a joint news conference with visiting Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla that the two countries had agreed their navies would not flex their muscles over the issue.

■ South Africa
Garlic used as HIV remedy
Campaigners condemned remarks by South Africa's health minister, who made clear a preference for the health-giving properties of garlic, lemon, olive oil and beetroot over the drugs that the World Health Organization (WHO) wants provided to save lives in the population worst hit by AIDS in the world. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said that the government would not be pressured into meeting WHO and UNAIDS. Far too little was known about the side effects, she said. "Raw garlic and a skin of the lemon -- not only do they give you a beautiful face and skin, but they also protect you from disease," she said.

■ Bulgaria
Fountain electrocutes man
A man who dipped his hands into a popular public fountain in Sofia was electrocuted because of faulty insulation in the fountain's lights and pump. The death of 33-year-old Veselin Petrov spurred authorities into ordering rapid checks of other fountains. Other people had reported receiving shocks from the recently opened fountain but no action had been taken.

■ Germany
Pope's old car sold on eBay
Bids for a used car that used to belong to Pope Benedict XVI ended with an offer of more than 185,000 euros (US$239,000). The auction of the car appeared to have finished with a winning bid of more than 13 times what student Benjamin Halbe, 21, paid for it earlier this year. Halbe, from Olpe, Germany, put the vehicle on eBay a week ago. He bought it unwittingly in January from his local VW dealer, only discovering the identity of its previous owner when the registration papers arrived. The identity of the buyer is still unknown.

■ Norway
Striptease considered art
Striptease is art like opera or ballet, an Oslo court ruled. "I'm very pleased. Ninety percent of the guests here tell me that what I'm doing is art," a female stripper at the Dream Go Go Bar in Trondheim said. The court ruled that striptease should be treated like other artistic stage shows, like stand-up comedy to opera, for which tickets are exempt from value-added tax (VAT). Tax authorities demanded more than 1 million Norwegian crowns (US$159,500) from the Blue Angel club in Oslo in unpaid VAT, arguing that tickets to strip shows were subject to VAT, normally 25 percent. The defense argued that undressing as nurses or police women demonstrated artistic flair. Tax lawyers said audiences were attracted to the shows by nudity, not art.

■ Syria
Bush extends sanctions
Economic sanctions on Syria were extended for another year. "Because the actions and policies of the government of Syria continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States," Bush said he was "continuing for one year the national emergency blocking the property of certain persons and prohibiting the exportation or re-exportation of certain goods to Syria." Originally, Syria was accused of supporting terrorism, occupying Lebanon, pursuing WMD and undermining efforts in Iraq. The sanctions severed banking relations with the Commercial Bank of Syria, froze the assets of Syrians suspected of involvement in terrorism or WMD development, and prohibited Syrian flights to and from the US.

■ United States
Ex-Russian official indicted
Russia's former nuclear energy minister and a business partner have been indicted by a US federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on charges they stole more than US$9 million from the US, other countries and corporations that was intended to improve nuclear safety in his country. Yevgeny Adamov, 66, and Pennsylvania resident Mark Kaushansky, 53, were indicted on Thursday on charges including conspiracy to transfer stolen money and securities, conspiracy to defraud the US, money laundering and tax evasion. Adamove was director of the Research and Development Institute of Power Engineering before becoming joining the Russian Cabinet.

■ United States
Black Hawk pilot jailed
A US army helicopter pilot pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, admitting he was showing off before his Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan last year and killed the crew chief. Under a plea agreement, Chief Warrant Officer Darrin Rogers, 37, was sentenced on Thursday to 120 days at Fort Leavenworth military prison in Kansas and forfeiture of all pay and allowances. He also must retire from the army but will retain his pension. Judge Colonel Debra Boudreau had sentenced Rogers to four years and two months in jail, forfeiture of all pay and dismissal from the army.

■ Cuba
Audioslave live in Havana
It's been a long time -- maybe forever -- since a US band has rocked the Havana waterfront, but Audioslave was promising to make its concert last night the longest, loudest and best Cubans will have heard. The hastily organized show is being billed as the first outdoor rock concert by a US band in Cuba. The concert at the Anti-Imperialist Tribunal -- on the Melanin waterfront facing the US Interests Section here -- easily has the potential to be the largest, far bigger than the few earlier, relatively controlled indoor concerts involving artists such as Billy Joel and Bonnie Raitt. Audioslave broke away from a US tour to come to Cuba after a lengthy effort to win approval from the Cuban and US governments.

■ Venezuela
Coke found in drums
Troops have captured a Colombian drummer whose instrument sounded out a different kind of beat. National Guard soldiers on the frontier between Colombia and Venezuela nabbed a traditional Colombian vallenato musician whose drums were packed with cocaine, officials said on Thursday. "A Colombian musician, who was traveling by bus from Cucuta, Norte de Santander, in Colombia to San Cristobal, was found with two drums containing 24kg of cocaine hidden inside," a statement said. Vallenato is a traditional dance music, involving drums, percussion and accordion originally from the Caribbean coast of Colombia.

■ Dominica
Win for Labor Party
The government won a narrow victory in elections that vindicated its youthful leader's focus on a painful International Monetary Fund austerity program and a money-driven switch in diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China, according to preliminary results yesterday. Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit's Labor Party won 11 of 21 parliamentary seats, up from 10 seats in the outgoing government. The result gives the party the simple majority needed to pass legislation without forming a coalition.