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World News Quick Take

■ Singapore
Sweet music for suckers
A musical lollipop invented in the city state goes on sale in the next two months, a news report said yesterday. David Yeo, 45, a sales representative for US industrial control products, was keen on creating his own product to satisfy yearnings for both sweets and music, The Straits Times reported. He and a partner started their own firm. The lollipops come in four flavours -- apple, lemon, strawberry and raspberry -- and work on vacuum technology, inventor Yeo explained. A thin, hollow rod in the middle of the candy connects to musical and lighting mechanisms, which are activated when the lollipop is sucked. The innovation was exhibited in June in Chicago at the All Candy Expo.

■ Japan
Navy `trippers' held
Six submariners have been arrested by police for possession of illegal drugs, a navy official said yesterday. "We regret it greatly. An investigation is going on and we will deal with this matter strictly," said an official at the Maritime Self-Defense Force. The navy had set up a special team to probe the scandal, he said. Police arrested the six members of a fleet submarine force stationed in Yokosuka base, southwest of Tokyo, in July, according to the navy official. Five of them have been indicted for allegedly cultivating or selling marijuana and buying other illegal drugs such as ecstasy, the official said. A sixth crew member, a 22-year-old seaman arrested on charges of possessing ecstasy, has been released as prosecutors put his treatment on hold. Police believe the indicted crew men had been using drugs while they were on shore between missions.

■ Bangladesh
Massive rice handout begins
About 15,000 soldiers started handing out rice to millions of people in rural Bangladesh yesterday, ahead of the harvest season when food is often in short supply, an official said. "We have already started distributing rice," Shajahan Sirajee, a spokesman for the Ministry of Disaster Management and Food said. About 7 million families -- accounting for about one-fifth of the country's 140 million people -- will receive 10kg of rice during the monthlong government-run program, he said. He added that about 108,000 tonnes of rice will be distributed. Food supplies often run low in the months before the November harvest.

■ China
Students feared swept away
At least seven college students are missing and feared drowned after a giant wave swept them off a beach into stormy seas in southeastern China's Fujian Province, state press reported yesterday. The accident occurred near Changle City on Saturday morning when several male students from the Fujian Industry and Commerce Institute were playing soccer on the beach despite high winds, the Beijing News reported. At least three of the students were seen being carried out to sea after the giant wave suddenly caught them by surprise, the paper said, while four other students were later found to be missing.

■ South Korea
Chinese kimchi makes gains
Half of the kimchi consumed in South Korea is imported from China, the Korean Restaurant Association said yesterday, as more South Korean kimchi makers relocate to China to cut costs. Imports of the spicy fermented cabbage and radish -- considered South Korea's national dish -- have tripled annually since 2001 when 393 tonnes of Chinese kimchi hit the markets. Last year 72,600 tonnes of kimchi arrived in South Korea, while imports in the first half of this year have increased 114 percent to 49,850 tonnes over the same period last year, according to data from the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry.

■ Philippines
Piranha cargo intercepted
Philippine authorities have intercepted a cargo of 34 live flesh-eating piranhas, which arrived at the capital's premier international airport from Peru, an official said yesterday. Philip Santa Maria, chief of the Fisheries Quarantine Service at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport, said the shipment arrived on Saturday aboard a KLM Airlines flight from Loreto, Peru. "The fishes were concealed inside thick plastic bags with water and placed in five sealed boxes," he said. Santa Maria said investigation showed that the illegal shipment was intended for a businessman in the Manila suburban city of Quezon.

■ New Zealand
Politician almost bares all
A New Zealand politician who promised to run naked through the streets if he lost an election bet attempted to honor his pledge yesterday, but in the nature of politicians he wasn't prepared fully to expose himself to the naked truth. Keith Locke from the Green Party instead wore a G-string on his 500m jaunt through the main street of the Auckland suburb of Newmarket. He also opted for the "artistic rather than crude" approach, so the only bare skin on sight was his face and hands. The rest of the body was covered by detailed body painting with a Green Party theme. Onlookers appeared to be more relieved than outraged by the politician's cover-up.

■ United Kingdom
Brown set to replace Blair
Finance minister Gordon Brown has set out his stall to succeed Prime Minister Tony Blair, promising that under his leadership there would be no going back to the Labour Party's old, election-losing ways. "The program of reform and modernization will continue when Tony steps down," he said. Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown has long been seen as Blair's anointed heir. But when Blair said he would not stand for a fourth term there was speculation over whether Brown -- credited with deft management of the British economy but lacking foreign experience -- would change tone or direction.

■ Ireland
Two police officers hurt
Two Northern Ireland police officers were wounded when a militant crowd in Catholic west Belfast attacked police and firefighters with bricks. The trouble flared Saturday night outside a gas station, where a crowd had set fire to a gas-filled cylinder in an apparent bid to attract the police to a spot for ambush. Police escorting fire crews trying to douse the flames were pelted with bricks and other makeshift weapons from a 150-strong mob.

■ Switzerland
Vote held on labor market
The Swiss started voting in a national referendum yesterday on opening up the country's labor market to citizens of the 10 new EU members. The 4.8 million eligible voters are deciding whether to extend the so-called free movement of people to the 10 mostly eastern European countries that joined the EU in May 2004. The new EU members are: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. For citizens of the 15 "old" EU member states the Swiss labor market has been open for 18 months.

■ Russia
Some Muslims ask to leave
More than 400 Muslim residents of a troubled southern region have demanded they be allowed emigrate from Russia, saying they were being persecuted by local authorities, a lawyer for the group said Saturday. In a letter sent to President Vladimir Putin last month, the 411 residents of the Kabardino-Balkariya region said lpolice were routinely detaining Muslims without reason, lawyer Larisa Dorogova said. "This is not a political statement, not a political protest; this letter expresses a real desire by these people to leave Russia," Dorogova said. The Foreign Ministry told the group to take its appeal to the government's human rights ombudsman.

■ Australia
Report: Kill exotic species
Millions of exotic animals -- from camels to cane toads, horses and foxes -- face extermination under recommendations by a parliamentary committee. A population explosion of species introduced to this isolated continent since European settlement began more than 200 years ago is a growing threat to agriculture and native wildlife, the committee of inquiry has found. "The exotic species need to be eradicated," committee chairman Alby Schultz said. With few natural predators and vast sparsely-populated areas in which to roam, the populations have soared, putting pressure on native species by preying on them, competing for food and shelter, destroying habitat and spreading diseases. The conservation group WWF Australia agrees there is a need to cull feral animals, while stressing that it should be done as humanely as possible.

■ United States
Clinton opposes museum
Senator Hillary Clinton is opposing a freedom museum planned for ground zero, citing concerns raised by the families of the World Trade Center victims who say the proposed museum would dishonor the dead. The International Freedom Center last week released a report saying the museum "will tangibly link Sept. 11 and the lives of its victims to humanity's greatest idea: freedom." In addition to the terrorist attacks, its exhibits would deal with events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, efforts such as the Civil Rights Movement, and documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the South African constitution.

■ United States
Cheney undergoes surgery
US Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering yesterday at a Washington hospital after undergoing surgery to repair aneurysms behind both knees, the White House said. He was scheduled earlier this month for surgery after discovery of a ballooning artery in his right leg during his annual physical examination in July. An unannounced, nearly identical procedure was also conducted on his right leg during the operation Saturday at George Washington Hospital. A White House statement described the second procedure as an "interoperative decision."

■ Haiti
Man barred from presidency
A prominent Haitian-American businessman has been barred from running for president of Haiti because he holds US citizenship but he vowed yesterday to appeal the order. Election officials announced on Friday that 22 of the 54 registered presidential candidates had been rejected, including Dumarsais Simeus, the head of Texas-based Simeus Foods International, a food processing company. The Nov. 20 election will be the first since Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted last year. Among the candidates who qualified were former Haitian Presidents Rene Preval and Leslie Manigat and Guy Philippe, a former police chief who led the armed rebellion that drove Aristide from power.

■ Canada
Refugee ends hunger strike
An Egyptian refugee with alleged links to Osama bin Laden and other terrorists has ended a 79-day hunger strike after the Ontario government agreed to meet his demands for medical treatment. Mohammed Mahjoub ended his strike late Friday after the government issued a written statement promising medical specialists would be sent to assess Mahjoub's health problems, including a knee injury and Hepatitis C, which he says he contracted in jail. Mahjoub, 44, was using the prolonged strike to protest his conditions at a Toronto jail. Mahjoub says he has been denied proper medical attention and visits from his family.

■ Florida
Policeman shot dead
A University of Central Florida police officer was shot to death by an Orlando police officer outside a sports stadium as fans were arriving for a college football game yesterday, authorities said. Authorities did not immediately release names or the circumstances leading to the shooting, but Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokesman Geo Morales said the shooting was under investigation. Witnesses told the Orlando Sentinel that the incident started with an undercover officer breaking up a tailgate party. When he encountered resistance, they said, he fired three shots into the air.

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