■ Australia
Homosexuality immoral: poll
More than a third of Australians believe homosexuality is immoral, according to a survey of 25,000 people released yesterday by independent think tank the Australia Institute. The institute's Michael Flood said that half of respondents in some regions said that homosexuality was immoral. "It's partly about contact and exposure to gay and lesbian communities," Flood said. "We find that people who are younger, people in city areas and women in particular are less likely to believe that homosexuality is immoral." The research also showed that Roman Catholics were the most tolerant of homosexuality compared with other faiths.
■ China
Naked swimmers shock
A heatwave in China has led to a rash of nude swimming this summer, sparking a moral debate over whether such skinny-dips should be allowed, a newspaper reported yesterday. "I was totally stunned and flushed at the first sight of these naked men," the China Daily quoted Zhao Yanjie as saying. Zhao, who lives near a river bank in Liaoning Province, was moved to call on police to prevent such behavior after she and her family stumbled upon a group of nude bathers while out for an evening stroll. "How can they do such disgraceful things in public?" she asked. The swimmers were unrepentant. "We can fully relax ourselves and merge with nature," a swimmer who declined to give his name told the newspaper.
■ China
Skeletons found in attic
Workers demolishing a house in Shanghai last week made a startling discovery: seven human skeletons in the attic. The house's former owner said the skeletons were collected by her brother when he was a medical student four decades ago, the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported. Police confiscated the bones for examination but haven't commented on the case. The former owner, Shu Changjing, said her brother and his classmates found the bones in a cemetery. She said they remained in her attic because other students' parents objected to keeping them. It wasn't clear whether collecting the bones from a cemetery violated Chinese law. "I could only say that it was not proper to do so according to the current rules," said a woman who answered the phone at the city's Health Bureau. "But that case happened a long time ago and it is really hard to tell if it is legal or not to keep skeleton samples."
■ Japan
Hiroshima cenotaph defaced
A suspected right-wing extremist vandalized a memorial for the victims of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, scraping off a reference to Japan's war effort as a mistake, officials and news reports said yesterday. The cenotaph for the bomb victims at the center of Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park was defaced on Tuesday night, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said. "Such an act not only tramples the hearts and souls of Hiroshima and those wishing for world peace, but also desecrates the spirits of atomic bomb victims," Akiba said in a statement. Kyodo News agency reported that police yesterday arrested Takeo Shimazu, a member of a right-wing group. Hiroshima police refused to confirm the report. Shimazu reportedly objected to the criticism of Japan's imperial policies in Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. The memorial says: "Let all the souls here rest in peace, as we will never repeat this mistake."
■ United Kingdom
Dinghy liaison stopped
A UK couple who headed out to sea in a dinghy for an amorous liaison sparked a major rescue operation when their cries of passion were mistaken for someone in trouble. A passer-by raised the alarm after hearing strange noises coming from the waters near a beach in Torbay on the southwest coast of England on Saturday morning, prompting the coastguard to send lifeboats and police to the scene. "It was found that there was a partially clothed couple in a small rubber dingy that were brought ashore and asked to put their clothes back on. Our log actually mentions that `they were having fun in their boat!,' but doesn't say anything other than that." a spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police said.
■ Italy
Statue moves, faithful say
Scores of Catholic faithful have been heading for a church in a small town near Naples to pray in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary which some claim to have seen move and take on human form. The small San Pietro church in Acerra had to be closed on Tuesday to allow police and church officials to inspect the statue as news of the alleged "miracle" spread. Witnesses say they have seen the Madonna turn into a skin-like pink color. Others claim to have seen her legs and other parts of the body move. "She moved twice yesterday, at 12 noon and at 8pm," Francesco Barbetta, a witness, was quoted as saying by the Adnkronos news agency. The parish priest says he hasn't seen anything.
■ United States
Paranoia diverts flight
A flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted to Boston early on Tuesday after three Pakistani passengers were reported acting suspiciously, but nothing amiss was found and the three were released after questioning, authorities said. Flight 934 landed at Logan International Airport just before 3am. The three men were taken into custody and questioned after other passengers complained that they were moving between different sections of the cabin, an FBI spokeswoman said. The three passengers were cleared to continue on to London's Heathrow Airport after police searched the aircraft.
■ United States
Boy guilty of vomit assault
A US high-school student convicted of battery for vomiting on his Spanish teacher has been ordered to spend the next four months cleaning up vomit in police cars. Johnson County Magistrate Judge Michael Farley said during the sentencing Tuesday that he considered the boy's actions "an assault upon the dignity of all teachers." The teen, now 17, vomited on teacher David Young as he turned in his textbook on the last day of classes at Olathe Northwest High School. His attorney said he vomited because he was nervous about his final exams. But two other students testified that the teen told them he threw up intentionally.
■ Croatia
Falling cow kills farmer
A Croatian farmer was killed when a cow he was about to milk fell and crushed him. The 61-year-old farmer, from the village of Cadjavacki Lug in central Croatia, went into the stable where his family keeps nine cows, as he had every morning for the past 20 years, the Vecernji List newspaper reported on Tuesday. "I think he slipped, grabbed the milking machine and knocked it over. That must have frightened the cow, which slipped and fell on top of him," said his distraught daughter-in-law.
■ Germany
Finger goes further
A German man's severed finger traveled 60km by rail after its owner trapped his hand in the door trying to board a train at the last minute, police said on Tuesday. Passengers who were traveling from Freiburg to Cologne on Sunday noticed the finger lying on the carriage floor and alerted police. Officers then collected it at the next station. Doctors said that they were confident they could reattach the finger to its 34-year-old owner after it was rushed back to Freiburg in an ambulance.
■ United States
Render unto Rubottom...
Ezekiel Rubottom now has his left foot back exactly where he wants it -- in a bucket on the front porch. Police in Kansas have returned the amputated foot to him after seizing it during the weekend to check out just how it came to be there. The 21-year-old man's foot was amputated three weeks ago after a series of medical problems, and he started keeping it in a 20-liter bucket filled with formaldehyde. Officers who went to the home late on Saturday night found the foot, and unsure of what to make of the unusual discovery, confiscated it and put it into evidence storage. Rubottom, an artist, recovering methamphetamine addict and occasional hip-hop master of ceremonies, said that he was born with a clubbed foot and has dealt all his life with pressure sores and infections. An infection this summer had become so severe that doctors decided it should be amputated.
■ United Kingdom
Plumber busted for leaking
A plumber was fined and given a community service order on Tuesday after being captured on hidden cameras urinating into a vase in a customer's attic and pouring the contents into the central heating system. Roy Williams, 47, was caught in the act by trading standards officers who had rented the house in Leatherhead in southern England and rigged it with cameras as part of a sting operation to check on tradesmen. The plumber had been called out to fix a simple fault but instead missed it and charged ?203 (US$353) for unnecessary work, Steve Playle of Surrey trading standards said. Williams then urinated into a vase, poured the urine into the hot-water tank and rinsed the vase in the cold-water tank. The plumber denied the charges, claiming he had a medical condition which meant he needed the toilet regularly and had been overcome by the sound of running water. He was sentenced to 150 hours community service in addition to fines and costs incurred cleaning the water tanks.
■ United Kingdom
Take her out to dinner
Forget expensive presents or costly jewelry. Wining and dining is the best way for men to woo women, scientists said on Tuesday. Researchers at Imperial College London developed a mathematical formula and modeled courtship as a sequential game to find the best way to impress the ladies. Their results show that offering an expensive present signals the man's serious intentions, but he must be wary of being exploited by gold-diggers who will dump him after receiving the gift. The researchers said that giving gifts was a feature of courtship in humans and other species to impress females. Physical attraction is an important element in courting but offering gifts also helps, the researchers said.
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